Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) entered into agreements today to acquire a 20% stake in the holding company of CMU OmniClear Limited.
HKEX will invest up to HK$455 million in CMU OmniClear Holdings Limited (CMU OmniClear Holdings) through the subscription of new shares. Upon completion, HKEX and the Exchange Fund managed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will hold 20 per cent and 80 per cent of CMU OmniClear Holdings, respectively.
This strategic investment builds on the Memorandum of Understanding signed between HKEX and CMU OmniClear in March 2025, and underscores HKEX’s commitment to cement Hong Kong’s position as a leading FIC centre and an international Renminbi (RMB) hub. CMU OmniClear is a company established to carry out the operations of the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) on behalf of the HKMA.
Through this partnership, HKEX and the HKMA will harness their combined resources, technology, talent and market expertise to accelerate the development of Hong Kong’s post-trade securities infrastructure into a major central securities depository (CSD) in the region.
Specifically, this will involve the continued commercialisation of CMU and the pursuit of business development initiatives in areas such as expansion of its investor CSD services, asset classes coverage and collateral management services, with the goal of enhancing CMU’s competitiveness, and the cross-asset class efficiency of CSD platforms in Hong Kong.
The strategic partnership forms part of broader efforts to develop Hong Kong’s FIC ecosystem, facilitating future growth areas that include offshore bond repo, OTC clearing, and interest rate derivatives, whilst enabling broader use cases for non-cash collateral, particularly RMB-denominated bonds such as Chinese Government Bonds.
Proceeds of the investment, which will be funded by HKEX’s existing corporate funds, will be used to support future growth and market development initiatives of CMU OmniClear.
CMU, Hong Kong’s fixed-income CSD operated by CMU OmniClear, has around HK$5 trillion equivalent of assets under custody as of 30 September 2025 and plays a key role in managing the clearing and settlement of bond transactions conducted on Bond Connect, as well as supporting the growth of Swap Connect by facilitating efficient use of collateral held with CMU.
These two Connect arrangements were jointly developed by HKEX and the HKMA, whose long-term close collaboration has contributed to the continued success of both programmes, which hit fresh trading records this year.
